Winners of the William Dietrich & Lois McMaster Bujold Giveaways! Plus, miscellaneous news..

Congratulations to Amy Dange (North Carolina), Margaret Herrin (Tennessee), Brian Kovich (Illinois), Eugene Mortensen (California), and Mary Williams (Missouri) who were all randomly selected to win a SET of William Dietrich’s Ethan Gage novels including copies of “Napoleon’s Pyramids” (Paperback) and “The Rosetta Key”, all thanks to HarperCollins!!!

Congratulations also to Stephanie Howlett-West (California) who was randomly selected to win a SET of Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Sharing Knife novels including copies of “Beguilement”, “Legacy” and her new book “Passage” thanks to EOS Books!!! For excerpts, be sure to visit the ‘Browse Inside’ feature HERE and check out Fantasy Book Critic’s review of “Passage” and an interview with the author HERE.

In news, just a few tidbits… One, Clare Bell’s new book “Ratha’s Courage”, the fifth volume in the Named series, has been recently released as an E-book HERE via Baen Books Webscriptions. The young adult fantasy series about sentient prehistoric cats was at one time pretty popular, but unfortunately “Ratha’s Courage” was unable to secure print publication, so the author decided to go a different route. Basically, if “Ratha’s Courage” does well in E-book format, then there’s a good chance that fans will see the novel published in print.

Secondly, awarding-winning screenwriter (La Cucina) and author A.W. Gryphon is holding an auction HERE in support of Women's Cancer Research. The auction ends Wednesday, April 30th and the prize is a SIGNED COPY of Allison’s debut novel “Blood Moon”:

“London, England. Mysterious. Beautiful. Full of legends and lore. It is home and a safe place for Ameila Pivens Kreutzer. For an ancient society of witch hunters, and practitioners, it is an easy place to go unnoticed. And for Scotland Yard’s Denny Carlisle, on All Hallows Eve, when the Full Blood Moon reaches its highest point in the sky, it will become a city of awe and mayhem as the most powerful witch in modern history rises, to avenge her lost love and forever end the ancient war among the witches and those who hunt them…”

“Blood Moon” is the first book in the Witches' Moon Trilogy and you check out a review of the book via Darque Reviews.

Lastly, Pyr Books has unveiled the John Picacio artwork (see above) for the publisher’s June 2008 reissue of Robert Silverberg’s classic novel “Son of Man”. All I can say is, wow…

Around the Blogosphere:

~Adventures in Reading mentions that the prologue to Elizabeth Bear’s upcoming new book “Ink & Steel” can be found online HERE. “Ink & Steel” is the third volume in the Promethean Age series and will be released July 1st followed by the fourth volume, “Hell & Earth”, in August 2008.
~Andrew Wheeler has reviewed a couple of books that I’m a big fan of including Paul Melko’s debut novel “Singularity’s Ring” HERE and “The Born Queen” HERE, the excellent concluding volume to Greg Keyes’ The Kingdoms of Thorn & Bone fantasy series…
~Dark Wolf has very nice, story-by-story review of the John Joseph Adams-edited anthology “Wastelands” HERE which is just one of the many books that I need to read :)
~Darque Reviews covers Thomas E. Sniegoski’s forthcoming book “A Kiss Before the Apocalypse” HERE which is in my review pile. Kimberly also reviews Charlaine Harris’ new Southern Vampire book “From Dead To Worse” HERE, a series that I’d like to try out one day…
~FantasyBookSpot has a short, but interesting interview with Ekaterina Sedia, author “The Secret History of Moscow”, HERE.
~Over at Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin’ Book Reviews, there are a few nice giveaways going on including a copy of Cheryl Brooks’ novel “Slave” HERE, a copy of Scott Mackay’s upcoming book “Omega Sol”—which I hope to review if I have time ;)—and a BOX DVD SET of Alien Nation: Ultimate Movie Collection HERE!!! Want more chances to win a BOX DVD SET of Alien Nation: Ultimate Movie Collection? Well you’re in luck because SciFiChick is also hosting a giveaway for a BOX SET HERE :D
~Fantasy Debut has a great review HERE of the debut novel “Truancy” by Isamu Fukui who wrote the book when he was fifteen! Tia also spotlights “Night Life” by Caitlin Kittredge who I had the pleasure of meeting at the Norwescon :)
~Graeme’s Fantasy Book Reviews reveals his thoughts on Richard K. Morgan’s forthcoming fantasy novel “The Steel Remains” HERE. In fact, reviews of this book have been popping up all over the place including Sandstorm Reviews and The Book Swede, not to mention the earlier coverage including The Genre Files, Joe Abercrombie & The Wertzone. Considering that the book isn’t even out until August 21, 2008 (UK-Gollanzc), that’s already a lot of advance press. But you know what? It deserves it. I was lucky enough to read a proof and “The Steel Remains” is just an amazing novel. Basically, if you like epic fantasy that is gritty and unconventional, and you’re a fan of Richard K. Morgan, then “The Steel Remains” is the perfect storm :) As far as Fantasy Book Critic, a review is definitely on the way, but you probably won’t see it until much closer to the book’s August 21st release date…
~Leap In the Dark has a fantastic review HERE of “The Hakawati” by Rabih Alemeddine which is described as an ‘Arabian Nights for this century’. The book definitely sounds interesting and is out today!
~Neth Space actually has a rare giveaway going on HERE :) This time he’s giving away a copy of Margaret Weis’ new book “Amber & Blood” which concludes her Dark Disciple trilogy.
~Newsarama has a report HERE about the Dabel Brothers panel at this year’s New York Comic Con, which talks about their projects including Dean Koontz’ Frankenstein: Prodigal Son, George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards: The Hard Call, and The Dresden Files: Welcome To the Jungle.
~As usual, OF Blog of the Fallen has some interesting articles including How to be a better, more pretentious blogger/review :) Larry also makes up his own list of speculative fiction books that should be read HERE in response to Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist’s list of What to read next?
~Speaking of Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, there’s a wonderful interview HERE with Kay Kenyon, author of “Bright of the Sky” and “A World Too Near” from her SF series The Entire and the Rose. The interview was actually a collaboration with Rob from SFFWorld :) Also, there’s a giveaway for Jeff Somers’ “The Digital Plague” HERE—yet another book that I hope to review—and a REVIEW of Brian Ruckley’s “Bloodheir”, which is the sequel to “Winterbirth”. For another review of “Bloodheir”, be sure to check out The Book Swede.
~If you haven’t seen it yet, Realms of Speculative Fiction has this great article HERE highlighting a bunch of SF/fantasy-related blogs, including yours truly :) It’s a fantastic list and it’s pretty cool to see how many excellent blogs there are out there! Also be sure to browse around Realms of Speculative Fiction while you’re there because the website has a lot of wonderful content to offer…
~Finally, The Wertzone has a fabulous post HERE for readers who aren’t familiar with Britisth SF author Alastair Reynolds and a review of Stephen Baxter’s forthcoming book “Flood” HERE.